1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a storage warehouse that is capable of storing together multiple types of articles having differing sizes.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known storage warehouse includes a plurality of storage shelves and a stacker crane that transfers articles to each storage shelf. In addition, a known transport system includes an unattended transport vehicle that, between a warehouse-in port and a warehouse-out port provided in the storage warehouse, enters articles into a warehouse and removes articles from the warehouse. Among such transport systems, there is one that attempts to accurately transfer the articles by positioning the articles during transport or during storage.
For example, a storage container called a Front Opening UnifiedPod (FOUP), which is capable of housing a plurality of substrates such as semiconductor wafers, can be described as an article handled in the storage warehouse or transport system as discussed above. Such a storage container is used principally inside a facility, such as a manufacturing plant wherein a transport system is installed, in order to transport or temporarily store a plurality of semiconductor wafers between multiple processes or within each process along the pathway of the transport vehicle (e.g., refer to JP 2007-287877).
In the storage container that houses substrates such as semiconductor wafers, engaging grooves (or holes) for positioning are formed in order to accurately deliver the substrates to the various manufacturing apparatuses. In this case, the transport apparatus, such as a stacker crane for transporting the storage container, the storage shelves of the storage warehouse, and the like are provided with positioning pins, which engage with the engaging grooves and the like, thus making it possible both to restrict the shifting of the position of the storage container during storage or transport and to accurately transfer the storage container to the storage shelf, etc., of the automated warehouse, etc.
The storage containers differ in size in accordance with the size of the substrates to be stored, and the arrangement of the engaging grooves is set in advance in accordance with the sizes of the storage containers. Accordingly, if the sizes of the storage containers differ, then the arrangement of the grooves for positioning also differ. Accordingly, there is also a need to arrange the positioning pins of the transport apparatus such that the positioning pins align with the engaging grooves provided in the storage containers. Taking FOUPs as an example, in the case of a FOUP for storing semiconductor wafers having a diameter of 300 mm and a FOUP for storing semiconductor wafers having a diameter of 450 mm, the sizes of the FOUPs differ and the arrangements of the grooves also differ. Accordingly, with regard also to the transport systems that transport and store the storage containers, separate transport systems in accordance with the sizes of the containers have come to be used (e.g., refer to JP-A-2003-142551).